Councillors give the go ahead for $19m residential development on Beach Road

Tuesday's Council meeting saw Eurobodalla councillors approving a development application for a residential apartment building for the corner of Herade Street and Beach Road, Batemans Bay. Designed by award winning architect Nathan Judd the stunning design will see the development contain four, five and six storeys of 16 x 1 bedroom, 32 x 2 bedroom, 18 x 3 bedroom and 1 x 4 bedroom apartments and a basement car park of 93 spaces. Because the development application sought a variation from the maximum building height of 15m up to 21.71m it was required to be determined by the full Council. Nathan Judd gave a presentation to Councillors during Public Forum that explained in detail the measures both he and the developers had put in place to advise local residents of the project having organised a Open Day on site. Speaking against the variation was Joe Smith who said he represented properties on the ridge of Pacific Street who were protesting that the increase in height would affect their views. Of interest to those in the gallery was that one of the properties was that of the Innes family. The Mayor, Liz Innes, was absent from the Council meeting that was more than ably chaired by deputy Mayor Rob Pollock. Had the Mayor been in attendance she would have had to declare a conflict of interest that would require her to leave the chamber during debate and voting. Of little surprise to those in the gallery were the declarations of pecuniary interest made by Councillors Nathan and Tait who acknowledge that they were on the ticket of Liz Innes and had associations with the family that therefore made it a requirement that they must also leave the chamber during debate and voting. The debate on loss of view, the entitlement to views and on the possibility of setting precedent for a new height variation on future development was well managed by the chair and Director Lindsay Usher was very clear in his advice that indicated Council had consulted, considered and determined that the request for a variation on the merits of the project should be allowed. The councillors in the chamber voted unanimously to allow the height variation.

Above: The site of the stunning new accommodation development designed by Nathan Judd. The properties behind on the ridge will need to "share the view" with Councillor Brown saying "in my experience you don't own the view".